In case you weren't sure, old guys proudly purchasing young girlfriends for many thousands of dollars with the help of the internet is a totally mainstream phenomenon, now. A Manhattan "mixer" for SeekingArrangement.com (ticket price: $80 for daddies, $40 for babies) drew 400 people on Monday night, the New York Postreports:

The party, sponsored by the sugar-daddy Web site SeekingArrangement.com, was the "Midsummer Night Affair." At this mixer—described by host Alan Schneider as "a very elegant, classy and refined event"—talking about money and gifts upon first introduction wasn't taboo; it was expected.

"Remember, guys, you've got to be generous," crooned the emcee throughout the evening. "You've got to make it happen. It's passion all night long."

Manning the periphery of the room were career-counseling vendors (there for the women, according to Brandon Wade, founder and CEO of Seeking-Arrangement.com), plastic surgery reps and, more mysteriously, window-cleaner salesmen.

There are 10 sugar babies for every sugar daddy. Nearly half of the sugar daddies are married. And men needn't fret if they're not rolling in dough. "I've seen a lot of sugar daddies who make $60,000 or $70,000, because if they have $1,000 in disposable income a month, that makes them a sugar daddy," says Wade.

So, statistically speaking, young women are the ones who took a bazooka to feminism and killed it forever. At least they impoverished a bunch of adulterers and/or clueless wives while they were at it? Anyway, read on for harrowing tales from the sugar-negotiating trenches, including the words "counteroffer," "market yourself," and "Louis Vuitton." [NYPost, illustrative sugar daddy-baby interaction via Shutterstock]